November 10, 2012

Government in the Great Pyramid Age
The centralised
government that created one of the highlights of ancient Egyptian
history, the great Pyramid Age, appears to have been established by a
powerful ruling élite who promoted a God-king to unite the country as
well as sway the politico-religious current away from Egyptian Memphis.
It may well have been the crucial fact of the priests of Ptah having
endeavoured to undermine the sun cult to their own advantage that
transformed the Heliopolis priests’ eagerness to enlighten into an
impulsion to control.

Zoser Pharaoh, whose reign
heralded an era of boundless vision and invention was a God-king of
solar faith. In death he would join, as by right, his father the
Sun-god in heaven. His chief official, Imhotep, whose titles included
‘First after the King in Upper Egypt, Minister of the King in Lower
Egypt and Administrator of the Great Palace’ was also ‘High Priest of
Heliopolis’. Moreover, some fragments of what are known as ‘Zoser
reliefs’ (Turin Museum) which concern the Heb-Sed Festival, refer to
the Heliopolitan Ennead (not the Memphite Doctrine). With little to
distinguish between religion and politics the balance of power had
tilted in favour of the priests of Heliopolis. They controlled trade
routes, exploited the mines and handled the country’s valuable raw
materials including stone, metal, precious stones and copper. Unity
having been finally established, political stability in the 4th dynasty
is reflected in economic prosperity, technical achievement,
productivity and inventiveness.

The broad
administrative pattern of the country was laid in the reign of Senefru.
After a turbulent transition between the 3rd and 4th Egyptian dynasties
he secured the throne by his marriage to Hetep-Heres, the daughter of
Huni, builder of the first true pyramid at Meidum. Her title, Daughter
of God, shows her to have belonged to a family with strong religious
affiliations. Senefru, a vigorous and powerful monarch, administered the
country directly through members of the royal family. He achieved this
by creating the post of Vizier or Prime Minister which became the
inherited right of his oldest son by his ‘Great Royal Wife’. She carried
the direct line of royal blood, her son being legitimate heir to the
throne. It is not without significance, therefore, that the first
Vizier, Prince Kanufer, was also High Priest of Heliopolis.

Young
princes, the sons of concubines and of noble families, were educated
together and formed early friendships. When they grew up they were
favoured for loyalty and given honorary posts. Sometimes a princess
might be given as wife to the son of a nobleman. The most important
officials in the Egyptian kingdom were bound together by education,
friendship and blood.

According to the Egyptian texts
of the Old Kingdom there were some twenty provinces (which the Greeks
called ‘nomes’) in Upper Egypt and a similar number in Lower Egypt. A
governor (‘nomarch’), the First Under the King, was appointed in each
by royal decree. As a member of the ruling élite, the governor
conducted his life in much the same manner as the aristocracy in the
capital but on a smaller scale. He was the judge of the community and
had complete control over all agricultural and public works. He
supervised the census on cattle, produce and gold. He assessed taxes
and controlled the archives where every local transaction, especially
those involving land, were recorded. Taxes were assessed on the exact
area of land irrigated. Warning of the approaching floods came from
observers who manned the nilometers; this gave time for the water to be
carefully channelled by means of canals. The governor’s control of
water (one of his main titles was Digger of Canals}, levying of taxes
and dispensing of justice gave him enormous power.

Though
his province was a state within a state he was not granted total
freedom. There were officials in a supervisory capacity. Senefru’s son
Netjereperef bore the title of Overseer of the Governors in the Fifth,
Sixth and Seventh Provinces of Upper Egypt, and there was undoubtedly
similar control in the Delta. A governor might have aspired to even
more power and, as in pre-dynastic times (Before ancient Egyptian
dynasty) , set about expanding his boundaries, had his influence not
been limited. Each province had a local deity which had a limited
domain, and local priests allowed no infringement from neighbouring
priests on the land of their deity; this also automatically curbed any
aspirations of a governor. Though he was the pharaoh’s nominee he had
no jurisdiction beyond the borders where the deity of his territory was
revered.

Loyal governors were given titles and
estates and, as the greatest reward, were assisted by the Egyptian
pharaoh in the construction of their tombs on the royal necropolis.
Sons of governors were often sent to be raised along with princes and
the sons of noblemen in the capital. This was both an honour for the
governor and an insurance against disloyalty for the pharaoh who
permitted the post to become hereditary.

The
administrative duties of a governor converged in the Chief Treasurer,
and his judicial duties were organised in six courts under the Chief
Justice of the Law; the Vizier was both Chief Treasurer and Chief
Justice, and was therefore the link between the provinces and the
central government. He was the mainspring of the government machinery,
literally responsible for all the works of the king, ‘the eyes and the
ears of his sovereign ... as a skipper, ever attentive (to his wants)
both night and day’. He attended to every activity in the land, from the
official counting of the country’s assets, including arable land and
cattle, to the assessment of taxes made on the inventories thus
obtained. He was also the High Priest, with two assistants known as
Treasurers of Egyptian God. It was at one time thought that each pharaoh
had only one Vizier, but evidence has come to light of two, sometimes
many, holders of the title in a single reign. The wealth of the country
was therefore controlled by a powerful religious body.

The
Vizier’s Hall in the palace was the archives of the state. Here the
learned scribes with palette and reeds, ink cakes and papyrus rolls,
kept full records, especially of taxpayers’ names and the amounts they
owed. Cursive writing, known as hieratic, became extensively used,
especially for everyday government business. The more difficult
hieroglyphic writing was reserved for religious Egyptian texts.
Dates were set by such inscriptions as the biennial cattle count: ‘Year
of Time 14 of the count of all oxen and small animals’ (ie the 28th
year of a king’s reign). Though standard-weight rings of gold and
copper were used in some palace transactions, coinage was unknown and
taxes were calculated in produce: cattle, poultry, grain, wine and
industrial products. These were stored in the granaries and
storehouses. In instances of tax evasion officials with staves under
their arms would not hesitate to ‘sieze the town rulers for a
reckoning’.

The learned scribes also drew up contracts
and wills. The latter largely concerned the maintenance of tombs.
Theoretically, of course, this was the responsibility of a man’s heirs,
but it was forseen that some laxity was to be expected with the
passage of time. The testamentary endowments came from private property
and in a man’s will (literally ‘order from his living mouth’) he
outlined that its income was to be put towards the care of his tomb and
the continued supply of food and offerings considered essential for
his afterlife. Mortuary priests were paid for these services. Hepzefi, a
governor of Assiut, left no less than ten contracts elaborating his
desires for the perpetual celebrations and maintenance of his Egyptian
tomb. In the case of royalty, the endowments were extremely large.
Khafre’s son, Nekure, bequeathed to his heirs a private fortune
including fourteen towns and two estates at the royal residence, the
entire income of which was for the maintenance of his tomb; and he made
the will ‘while he was alive upon his two feet without ailing in any
way’.

The fact that no written law has been found in
ancient Egypt does not undermine documentary evidence of legal
practice. Written briefs were submitted to a governor, who frequently
inscribed in his tomb that he ‘judged two partners until they were
satisfied’. Among the Egyptian Old Kingdom legal evidence is a document
referring to litigation between an heir and an executor. It indicated
that under certain circumstances an appeal might be made directly to the
central Court. There is one remarkable case of treason in the royal
harem which was heard by two provincial judges (governors) in place of
the Chief Judge (the Vizier), for an unbiased decision. Some were simple
contracts such as the document known as ‘The contract for the sale of a
small house’. The most famous legal case was that of the Vizier Kheti,
whose name lived on until the New Kingdom as ‘the judge whose case was
more than justice’. Kheti was involved in a lawsuit in which members
of his own family were party; his judgement was against his own
relative in order not to be accused of partiality. An appeal was made,
yet Kheti persisted and his second ruling was the same as the first.